This song began life with a completely different title and a
slightly different chord progression. But the feel was kind of similar. I had a
set of lyrics almost finished, but they were a little whiny and I didn’t like
the sentiments I was expressing.

So I kind of put it in a drawer and forgot about it for a
while. Andrea and I were visiting a couple of very dear friends in
February. I’m an only child, and my mother’s health was at a low point then,
and I was feeling pretty wiped out. Our host plays a little guitar and he had a
nice old Yamaha lying around his living room.

We were waiting for a cab to go out for dinner, and as so
often happens in these situations, I picked up the instrument and was fooling
around with the chord progression, while we talked. And I remember saying that
my situation was not unique – I wasn’t ‘the only only child in the world’,
after all.

To be honest, the minute I knew I had that phrase, a voice
in my head told me I was going to make an album that year, despite my plans to
take a year off. As for the sentiment, it’s all very autobiographical, I’m
afraid. If it veers towards self-pity, I hope it comes back from the brink. I
was trying to say that love is… the fuel in the tank. The energy that makes all
things possible.

The recording was interesting. Despite recording the whole
thing with horns, full band, backing vocals, sax solo etc etc, I ended up
scrapping that version and reverting to the rough-round-the-edges demo that you
hear here – me playing an old upright piano in need of a tune. We overdubbed
the vocals and guitars at Clive’s studio, though. I’m very grateful to Clive
for his patience. After all that work, I had to phone and tell him I hated it.

‘What’s the matter?’ he asked.

I said, ‘I think I’ve fallen in love with the demo recording
of me on an old out of tune upright piano in a storeroom at Flowerfield.’

Without hesitation, he said: ‘Bring the recording in – let’s
dump it into the computer and redo the vocals with a proper mic.’

And we did an extra day – and I rediscovered the heart of
the song. Listening to the big arrangement, it reminds me that sometimes more
is actually less.